Torben
Schneider1, Henrik Lundell2,3, Tim B. Dyrby2,
Daniel C. Alexander4, Claudia Angela Michela Wheeler-Kingshott1
1NMR Unit, Department of
Neuroinflammation, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom; 2Danish
Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Copenhagen University Hospital
Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark; 3Department of Excercise and Sport
Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; 4Centre
for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, UCL, London,
United Kingdom
We
present a method that optimizes diffusion MRI protocols to be sensitive to
axon diameter and axonal density in white matter structures with known single
fibre direction. Computer simulations clearly show that our method improves
accuracy of measurements compared to protocols independent of fibre
orientation, especially when signal-to-noise-ratio is low. Furthemore, we
generate indices of axon diameter and density from a fixated monkey spinal
cord and are able to discriminate anatomically different white matter
regions.